Angela Grossmann - Artists For Kids Gallery

Angela Grossmann
Confetti
etching with archival ink jet
printed on St. Armand handmade rag paper by New Leaf Editions
edition 45, 5 artist's proofs, signed and numbered by the artist
paper size: 121.5 x 81cm, 50 x 38.5”
released October, 2008
issue price: $1,800

Angela Grossmann is an internationally acclaimed
Canadian artist best known for her powerfully expressive
collages and drawings exploring issues of human identity.
Angela Grossmann was born in 1955 in London, England. Born
into an art making family, her mother adorned the walls of their
home in murals and her father worked as a graphic designer. “My
childhood evenings were often spent drawing” says Grossmann. “
You could say I come from an artistic family, both my parents were
painters and my grandmother was an art collector in Dusseldorf
before she was murdered in the Holocaust.”
In 1980 Grossmann found herself in Vancouver, BC visiting her
sister. It was there she discovered the Emily Carr College of Art
and Design and began her formal art education. While at art
school she immersed herself in drawing and painting and graduated
with honours in 1985. At Emily Carr she met fellow “Futura
Bold” artists Douglas Coupland, Attila Richard Lukacs, Derek
Root and Graham Gillmore who came to be known as “The Young
Romantics” after their now legendary show at the Vancouver
Art Gallery in 1985. The exhibition launched the career of these
young artists who each went on to international acclaim.
In 1986 Grossmann received the much coveted Paris Studio
study prize from the Canada Council. Following her year in Paris
she moved to Amsterdam for five years; a place she continues
to maintain strong ties with. In 1991 she moved to Montreal to
complete a Masters of Fine Arts degree at Concordia University.
Since that time she has taught art at a number of post-secondary
institutions including Concordia, the University of Ottawa, UBC
and at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. In June 2006 she
was recognized by The Art Newspaper as one of 100 artists who
have most influenced students in British art schools. Grossmann
currently lives and works in Vancouver, BC.
Grossmann credits the artistic influences of Hannah Hoch, “a
woman before her time” and Max Beckman among many others
for informing the development of her imagery. It would be remiss
not to include members of “The Young Romantics” who are both
major influences and close personal friends.
For the past twenty years Angela Grossmann has built a reputation
as a significant force in Canadian art. She is a prolific artist
who has worked tirelessly to develop her work and is now represented
by five major galleries in Canada and abroad. Exhibited
across Canada, the United States and in Europe, her work can
be found in numerous public and private collections including the
National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Appelton Museum of
Art in Ocala, Florida, the Abteilberg Museum in Monchengladbach,
Germany, the Vancouver Art Gallery and in the Artists for
Kids Gallery in North Vancouver. In 2006 she was instrumental in
creating the widely acclaimed “Vancouver School” installation in
the AfK Gallery with the Futura Bold collective.
The etching “Confetti” depicts Grossmann’s ongoing interest in
combining photographic images with markmaking. The work is an
honest, fresh metaphor to the challenges inherent with coming
of age. The two companions emerge with youthful confidence
ready to take on life. Her use of handmade paper with traditional
and contemporary printmaking media adds strength to the image.
“Confetti” is certainly Grossmann at her very best.
Angela Grossmann with recent work in her studio.
The Artists for Kids Trust was established in 1989 through a
generous partnership between some of Canada’s finest artists
and the North Vancouver School District. Its mission, through the
sale of original prints created by its artist patrons is to build an art
education legacy for the children of British Columbia. Artists for
Kids houses a stunning collection of contemporary Canadian art
in it’s Gallery and provides a wealth of art enrichment program
opportunities for thousands of students of all ages and abilities
each year.
Canadian artists who generously support the program include:
Angela Grossmann, Kenojuak Ashevak, Robert Bateman, the late
Anne Meredith Barry, the late B.C. Binning, David Blackwood,
Molly Lamb Bobak, Edward Burtynsky, Douglas Coupland, Robert
Davidson, Wayne Eastcott, Jamie Evrard, Joe Fafard, Gathie
Falk, Graham Gillmore, Betty Goodwin, Ted Harrison, J. Carl Heywood,
the late Edward J. Hughes, Rodney Graham, Ann Kipling,
George Littlechild, the late Jean McEwen, Roz Marshall, the late
Guido Molinari, Greg Murdock, the late Toni Onley, Ross Penhall,
Jane Ash Poitras, the late Bill Reid, the late Jack Shadbolt, Arnold
Shives, Gordon Smith, Michael Snow, Takao Tanabe, Charles
van Sandwyk, Roy Henry Vickers, Irene F. Whittome, Alan Wood,
Robert Young and, the bequest of Betty and Fred Amess.
Artists for Kids Gallery, 810 West 21st Street, North Vancouver, BC
Canada V7P 2C1 Phone: 604.903.3797 Fax: 604.903.3778
E/mail: bmacdonald@nvsd44.bc.ca
Bookmark our web site: www.artists4kids.com